CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — Major growth in Chester County has county leaders working to proactively bring in new businesses.
Those leaders are working with Retail Strategies on a plan to focus on the traffic hitting Highway 901 off Interstate 77 and J.A. Cochran Bypass in downtown Chester.
“We’re going to come out of nowhere and all of a sudden Chester County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the Charlotte region,” Robert Long, the director of Chester County Economic Development, said.
Long said since the last census, the county has welcomed 1,500 jobs and six residential developments with a total of 3,300 new homes.
“There’s certain shopping opportunities we currently do not have and we’re hoping that over time there’s less and less reason to leave the town to spend money,” Long said. “Those funds go toward supporting capital projects like fire stations.”
The plan is to lure large companies like Walmart and Publix to anchor shopping centers. Local business owners said they're excited about the traffic they could receive as a result of it.
“I think it’ll be a positive change,” Otteria Miller, owner of Smiles by Dr. Miller, said. “There’s a lot of homes coming to the area, so I think it’s necessary.”
Adrea Gaston of Gaston Barbershop said the growth is inevitable.
“More people, more business," Gaston said. "We're going to grow either way, so you may as well accept it. Hopefully, it'll trickle down to us."
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